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2021 Who am I?

by Filed Under: 10 October, All Hallow's Eve, All Saints Day, Bl. Charles the Good, Fr. Emil Kapaun, St. Isaac Jogues Leave a Comment

*posted 2023, only a few years behind

This is one of the feastdays that we fully live out and spend a good amount of time preparing for — Hallowtide brings the way for two major feastdays.

We typically celebrate All Saints Day with festivities among family & friends on All Hallow’s Eve and assist at Holy Mass on the actual feast which is a Holy Day of Obligation. We try to start the Octave of All Souls with a visit to the cemetery for prayers of the deceased on Nov. 2.

One of the highlights is the Who Am I? presentations. The children present a bio of their saint. Many spend a great deal of time in researching the saints and getting to know their newfound patron.

We now have only 4 left to dress up. Below are the bios of our 2021 saint lineup. Orate pro nobis!

I was small and mighty.  I beat the beast by slinging a stone at his head.  

WHO AM I? 

I was an Earl who became a knight in the Second Crusade to recover the Holy Land from the Moors.   Upon my  return, I received the County of Flanders

I had a great love for justice.  I even forbade any of my subjects to blaspheme or take the name of God in vain. The punishment for blaspheming was to lose a hand or foot. My love for justice made me hated by many evildoers.

I declined to take over the throne because I wanted to focus on serving those in need.  I gave all I could and would even sell the clothes off my back if needed.  One day, I gave away 7,800 loaves.

I walked every morning barefoot to the church for my prayers and devotions.  I was warned that some were plotting against me.  I  answered:  “We are always surrounded by dangers, but we belong to God.  If it be his will, can we die in a better cause…. than that of justice and truth?” 

While I was reciting the penitential psalms before the altar, a mob rushed in and split open my head, in 1124.  

WHO AM I?

I was beatified in 1884.  

Patron of Crusaders

I became a priest in France in 1624.  I went to the new lands to work and share the Faith.  

I was kidnapped and held captive for over 1 year.   The natives tortured me be by fire, removed fingernails, gnawed away my fingers, and much more.  I even had to throw my finger in the woods so I wouldn’t be forced to eat it. 

I was rescued from martyrdom a number of times. And eventually, I returned home.  No one recognized me because my condition was so poor.  

The Pope gave me special permission to offer Holy Mass since my critical fingers were missing. 

I eagerly wanted to go back to the new lands in 1644. I told my friend, “I will go, but I will not return.”

Just two years later, on Oct. 18 1646, I was captured and tomahawked to death.  My head was placed on a stake as a trophy of sorts and thrown into the river.

WHO AM I?

I was torn between the priestly duties at home and the need to serve the brave men in the military fighting in World War II. My bishop recommended me for the U.S Army Chaplain Corps (KORZ). I joined the post-world war peacekeeping force and experienced firsthand the horrors of the Korean War. 

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I was compelled to fight in the front lines with my troops. Due to the circumstances I offered Holy Mass on the hoods of our jeeps and prayed with my men in foxholes. I never carried a gun or fired a weapon.  One day we were ambushed by the communists, rather than retreating with the others I and a doctor stood behind to care for the dying and wounded. We became Prisoners of War.

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I risked my life every day by sneaking out to find food for the other prisoners.  When the Chinese guards discovered that I had a blood clot in my leg, they moved me to the death house. There, I died, alone on May 23, 1951.

I forgave my captors and told the prisoners of the camp “Don’t worry about me, I am going to where I always wanted to go and I will pray for you!”WHO AM I?

2021 Saint Line up in order: David (fought Goliath), Bl. Charles the Good, St. Issac Jogues, and Fr. Emil Kapaun

All Saints Day 2020 – Patron Saints of Police Officers

by Filed Under: 10 October, All Hallow's Eve, All Saints Day Leave a Comment

All Saints’ Day is one of those feastdays that we spend much time preparing for — costume making, studying the saints, memorizing saint bios, practicing presentations, and the sheer joy of anticipating the festivities.

I’m now down to having only 4 children who dress up, soon it will be 3. So, I relish in seeing this feastday through the eyes of my children and reminiscing on all our fond memories.

Pictured in this video is the year that the three littles opted to be patron saints of police officers – 2020. They wanted the costumes at Costco so badly and I didn’t want to spend double the money.

So, they were…

St. Ambrose with the added homemade pipe cleaner bees on his cap along with a bottle of honey. He was called the Honey Tongued Doctor as he converted many and he is also a patron of bee keepers. 🐝

St. Sebastian with arrows in hand and one piercing his body. He was shot with arrows and left to die but survived and went on to preach until he was beaten to death. 🎯

St. Michael with wings made from glitter foam and additional battle gear because he’s a boy and requests to be St. Michael every year! ⚔️

I hope to share more looks into our past All Saints’ Day costumes & festivities. #jffallsaintsday

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#allsaints #allsaintsday #catholicmom #catholiccostumes #saintcostumes #liturgicalliving #liturgicallivingtlm #catholicfamily #traditionalcatholicfamily #lexorandilexcredendilexvivendi

Traditional Catholics

by Filed Under: 10 October, Christ the King, Pilgrimage, Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Bethlehem Leave a Comment

What traditional Catholics will do.
What every person in authority should remember.
What good fathers must do.
What we fight for….

It is more than “just” the Mass of the ages — it is for our traditions, the Faith of our fathers. 🙏🏼


This video contains clips from our second pilgrimage of this year (10.22) and part of a sermon from our Chaplain.

Miracle of the Sun

by Filed Under: 10 October, 10 October Saints, Miracle of the Sun, Our Lady of Fatima Leave a Comment

“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy Mercy.”

 

“From the road, where the carriages were crowded together and where hundreds of persons had stayed for want of sufficient courage to advance across the muddy ground, we saw the huge crowd turn towards the sun which appeared at its zenith, clear of the clouds. It resembled a disc of silver, and it was possible to stare at it without the least discomfort. It did not burn the eyes. It did not blind….Then a tremendous cry rang out and the crowd nearest us were heard to shout: Miracle! Miracle!…Marvel!…Marvel! Before the dazzled eyes of the people, whose attitude transported us to biblical times, and who, dumbfounded, heads uncovered, contemplating the blue of the sky, the sun trembled, it made strange and abrupt movements, outside of all cosmic laws – ‘the sun danced,’ according to the typical expression of the peasants.”

Avelino de Almeida, reporter for O Seculo, a socialist and anti-clerical newspaper, who was present at Fatima on October 13, 1917

 

 

During the night of 12-13 October it had rained throughout, soaking the ground and the pilgrims who make their way to Fátima from all directions by the thousands. By foot, by cart and even by car they came, entering the bowl of the Cova from the Fátima-Leiria road, which today still passes in front of the large square of the Basilica. From there they made their way down the gently slope to the place where a trestle had been erected over the little holm oak of the apparitions. Today on the site is the modern glass and steel Capelhina (little chapel), enclosing the first chapel built there and the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima where the holm oak had stood.

As for the children, they made their way to the Cova amid the adulation and skepticism which had followed them since May. When they arrived they found critics who questioned their veracity and the punctuality of the Lady, who had promised to arrive at noon. It was well passed noon by the official time of the country. However, when the sun arrived at its zenith the Lady appeared as she had said she would.

“What do you want of me?”

I want a chapel built here in my honor. I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. The war will end soon, and the soldiers will return to their homes.

“Yes. Yes.”

“Will you tell me your name?”

I am the Lady of the Rosary.

“I have many petitions from many people. Will you grant them?”

Some I shall grant, and others I must deny. People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended!

“And is that all you have to ask?”

There is nothing more.

As the Lady of the Rosary rises toward the east she turns the palms of her hands toward the dark sky. While the rain had stopped, dark clouds continued to obscure the sun, which suddenly bursts through them and is seen to be a soft spinning disk of silver.

“Look at the sun!”

From this point two distinct apparitions were seen, that of the phenomenon of the sun seen by the 70,000 or so spectators and that beheld by the children alone. Lucia describes the latter in her memoirs.

After our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus seemed to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our lady; it seemed to me to that it was Our Lady of Sorrows (Dolors). Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Carmel. [Only Lucia would see the later, presaging her entrance into Carmel some years later.]

This would be the last of the apparitions of Fátima for Jacinta and Francisco. However, for Lucia Our Lady would return a seventh time, in 1920, as she had promised the previous May. At that time Lucia would be praying in the Cova before leaving Fátima for a girls boarding school. The Lady would come to urge her to dedicate herself wholly to God.

As the children viewed the various apparitions of Jesus, Mary and Joseph the crowd witnessed a different prodigy, the now famous miracle of the sun.

 

 

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